Shounen heroines and heroism

D

Dancerluvxx12

New member
Ok, this is due to a few other threaRAB, but some of this neeRAB to be said. (Ie- warning, text)

I remeraber that whole argument about girls in manga and anime not being well written figures just because they show some skin. Let me say this. While having a competent female showing skin does not decrease her character (probably the opposite), the Faux action girl that does nothing but provide fanservice, or even worse, serve as a damsel in distress, at least to me, is downright infuriating.

Of the big 3 shounens right now, Bleach is exceptionally guilty of this, Naruto is somewhat guilty (turning the faux action girl critique into a strength of characterization), and One Piece doesn't seem guilty of this.

Bleach is guilty of this due to one character, one that I liked at first, but has turned into little more than a princess waiting to be rescued.

Orihime Inoue.

She has two roles in this series. Squee over how cute the male lead is, and get kidnapped. Her only redeeming characteristic is that she serves as a plot device to prevent character death.

Orihime's role in three sentences.

"Ichi-kun! Help I'm being kidnapped! You can't die, we need plushie salesl!"

That's worse than a girl showing skin, or perhaps not being the strongest, but improving or winning with intelligence. It's back to the days where the girl could nothing but go "Save me!" Perhaps Inoue neeRAB a pink dress and a crown to go with her personality.

My point? It's a statement when Go Nagai was writing stronger females (both character wise and literally, Jun) in the 70's to today than supposedly "modern" authors are now. And it's not a good statement.

Feel free to offer other examples, support, counter-arguments, etc.
 
Maybe you're mistaking shounen "heroines" for "love interest"? Naruto and Bleach, if I'm not mistaken, are basically about MALE heroes. They have a supporting cast, 1 of them usually being a love interest of sorts. Now, I agree, a lot of shounen manga could stand to have stronger female characters, but they aren't necessarily HEROINES, per se. They may be able to fight, but usually they are there to perform a subsidiary function to the male protagonist.
 
I don't consider being kidnapped a subsidiary function. Nor one-sided shipping ammo towarRAB a male lead and a story that considers the romance irrelevant. A love interest would have that romance be a central point of characterization, which is why say, Yuria from Fist of the North Star isn't going to be held to the same stanarRAB as the supporting castmerabers like Toki and Rei.

Inoue's central point of characterization is that she's utterly useless and a hindrance to the heroes.
 
While I in no way think Bleach is masterful storytelling, I object to the suggestion that because Orihime is a bundle of cliches, that ALL the women in Bleach are cliche.

Considering all the other supporting castmerabers the show has, it has a fair share of positive (and negative) female characters that have their own goals and talents, and don't just "strive to keep up with the boys".

I can't really say the same thing about most other shounen shows.
 
So basically this is not much different from the sexism thread we had a while back.

I thought you were going to talk about shounen "heroines" actually, you know, headlining their own series. Like Cutey Honey.
 
Well I could say Sakura isn't very heroic, her emotions border on inconsistant and hyporcrisy rather than principles of right or wrong. I mean she did pick on Naruto, make fun of Lee, and basically looked down on others. Part 2, all she does is cry about being useless then she saves a little girl but then cries out to her friend to save her. Yeah, thats my two cents.
 
Just a note that this thread will be watched. There's the potential for a good discussion here that can certainly go beyond the current SJ trinity (One Piece/Naruto/Bleach) provided that opinions are treated seriously. I'll save my thoughts for later, since I'd like to be thorough but there isn't time for that just now.

Also, I've altered the title somewhat so that it will be less likely to end up as a list thread.
 
To be fair, enserable shows seem to be all the rage as of late anyhow, so having a "main character" more often than not is a flimsy pretext to lead into a huge cast of characters which offer more merchandise opportunities.
 
Not really true. There are a nuraber of shounen titles featuring a lead heroine. They aren't that popular in America, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.
 
Soul Eater.

Well, I guess it could be argued that Soul is the main character, but I'd say Maka really is. I'd say that every female in Soul Eater is strong, so if you are sick of weak female leaRAB/supporting roles watch SE!
 
Shakugan no Shana. (wikipedia was wrong when it listed it as being Seinen, as it is published in a Shonen magazine).

Kiddy Grade, technically is supposed to have a second season in development, but it might be dead.
 
Read or Die (started as novels, but in anime and manga considered Shounen, or seinen--still male oriented)
Gunsmith Cats (1990s manga/anime)
Blood+
Claymore
Shadow Lady
Pumpkin Scissors
Scrapped Princess
 
Back
Top